Pretty decent vietnamese food located in central Valley. We tried chicken springrolls, beef phở soup and vermicelli salad with lemongrass beef. Service was quiet slow, but food fresh and tasty. Overall, pretty good vietnamese place.
Leah M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Mid-Wilshire, Los Angeles, CA
I have been coming here for years and the service and food is always incredible! But, I want to tell you especially about my experience here last Wednesday evening. I had been at BigSound all day with my manager and was desperate for dinner, having missed lunch due to meetings. It was about half an hour before anywhere would be open but we walked into Chinatown on the off chance we might find a place. The afternoon was quite chilly and there was a really strong breeze so being outside was unpleasant, we arrived outside Red Lotus to find it closed for a little while longer. We stood around deciding what to do as skipping out on dinner and going back home to the Gold Coast was looking more and more like a great option. All of a sudden the front door opened and a lovely woman(who I’m assuming was either the owner or the manager) stepped out and asked if we’d like to come and sit inside until they were officially open! They said we were able to order drinks but would have to wait until the kitchen opened for food, which would be another twenty minutes. Fine by us! The staff were absolutely lovely and took care of us despite them not being properly clocked on. When the kitchen opened we ordered a bunch of different dishes off the menu– Pork Dim Sims, Steamed Veggies and a Chicken Claypot Curry. Everything was absolutely delicious! My favourite was definitely the curry, it was fragrant, flavourful and the chicken was tender! Definitely come here! The staff are ridiculously incredible and the food is even better!
Anna B.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Brisbane, Australia
Ok I’ll keep it brief The order: Entrees: Rice paper pork and prawn rolls $ 12 — had better from a food court. Salt and pepper squid(small serve) $ 16 — tender, but fairly tasteless. Mains: Vietnamese sweet and sour pork $ 17 — overcooked and the meat was dry. Morning glory water spinach, garlic and fish sauce $ 15 — mushy and lacking freshness and flavour. This place used to be great. Appears that they have put a lot of effort into having an arty menu. Need to put the effort back into the food.
Senchwa W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Sydney, Australia
This is one of my favourite spots for lunch in Fortitude Valley. It’s not overcrowded, and manages just the right amount of restaurant atmosphere to make it feel a bit intimate, even during the day. The service has always made me feel at home, with a mix of generosity, promptness and friendliness. While the food may not quite be representative of Vietnamese, when I go there I am excited by the light, healthy options, and it would be untrue to say there are no Vietnamese influences. There aren’t many restaurants in Chinatown offering flavourful food which isn’t fat and MSG laden, or served on sticky plastic coated tables, and so I’m very grateful for this place. Of course it’s not all health food, it caters for many dietary preferences. Should you want a bevvy, it’s licensed too.
Hairpik S.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Los Angeles, CA
Easily the worst«Vietnamese» food ever. There was nothing authentic about the flavors at all. More like someone’s home cooking. The service was spotty and the waiter was very abrupt when one of our party pointed out a missing course. They never came around with the check and upon our leaving, a wine glass was accidentally tipped over and broken. For that we were charged $ 5. With the restaurant business being so competitive and there being a large variety of new establishments cropping up, I can’t see any reason to spend money in this restaurant again.
Lara C.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Brisbane, Australia
This restaurant affirmed my policy of avoiding restaurants in the chinatown mall. It just wasn’t great. The banquet certainly wasn’t worth the money — you’re better off ordering a dish each and sharing family style. The food was OK but you’ll get better by going to Darra or Sunnybank and you’ll pay a whole lot less!
Kylie M.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Australia
Love it, Love it, Love it! Great food, friendly staff, stylish atmosphere! Their triple caramelized pork spare ribs rock! The ‘A bit of everything Taste Plate’ is great and their Asian inspired Ice cream rules! YUM!
Meegan W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Australia
We decided to check out Red Lotus for dinner last night after a friend’s gig in the Valley. The restaurant is at the bottom end of the Chinatown mall and looks fantastic inside and out. A lot of care has gone into the fitout of Red Lotus and the result is an elegant and lovely restaurant. The menus are fantastic, with blurbs explaining the meal and its ingredients as well as the occasional piece of history or eating instructions. For someone who has never visited Vietnam or eaten a lot of Vietnamese food, this was very heartening and helpful. I chose the fish caramelised clay pot dish after enjoying a similar meal at another restaurant, while my companion went for a bowl of chicken phở. Before the mains came out, we chowed down on some delicious vegetarian rice paper rolls, which were fresh and tasty with a delicious dipping sauce. The mains came out of the kitchen smelling and looking amazing. My dinner had the most amazing flavour, but I found the meal difficult to really enjoy due to the number of bones in the fish(this was disclosed in the menu so no fault of the restaurant), and picking them out stilted my eating a little bit. The chicken phở was superbly flavoured and light. Overall the experience was very positive and we’ll definitely be going back for more.
Michelle L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Australia
I’d regard Red Lotus as more of an Asian fusion restaurant, because despite the fact it advertises itself as a Vietnamese restaurant, there is an entire selection of Chinese dishes on the menu. Nevertheless, my siblings and I came here for the Vietnamese food and we were pretty content with our choices. When a restaurant is decorated as beautifully as Red Lotus, you often wonder whether the food will compare, but the dishes here were great. I went with a classic Phở Noodle Soup with beef, and the flavours in the soup were a perfect balance of saltiness and sourness. Red Lotus also has free wi fi; you just need to ask for the password. We were pretty sheepish about asking for the password, but we ended up asking for it out of desperation and having an app party over the dinner table as we waited for our meals because we’d all just bought new phones. When it came to the meal itself, the food was delicious, but they couldn’t seem to get our drink orders right. My brother asked for a bottle of soda water, but the bottle arrived warm, and when he asked for a glass with ice in it so he could pour the soda water in, there was some confusion over that. We finally got a bottle of chilled soda water in the end, but it was a bit of an ordeal over a simple request.
Rhiannon S.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Fortitude Valley, Australia
The lunch specials at Red Lotus are amazing. For only $ 10, there is 2 menus full of lunch specials — Vietnamese lunch specials, or Chinese lunch specials. On the Vietnamese side there is: Phở beef noodle soup, Rice vermicelli salad, Vietnamese crispy crêpe, Char-grilled pork chop(served on rice). For $ 13 there’s Vietnamese chicken curry and for $ 15 there’s Char grilled Chicken with salad, and Shaking beef cube salad. On the Chinese side there is: A variety of Chinese dishes with rice(Mongolian Beef, Satay beef/chicken, Lemon chicken, Honey sesame chicken, Sweet and Sour pork and more) I went with the Phở beef noodle soup and my friend went for the Rice vermicelli salad with a bit of everything(which was $ 15). Both dishes were so delicious. I don’t know how they make the clear Phở broth so full of flavour! We also ordered a Vietnamese Ice coffee which came in a strange filter machine. The coffee dripped through, on top of some condensed milk. When it finished filtering through, you stirred it into the condensed milk and then poured it over a glass of ice. Very strong and sweet. If you are looking for a fast, healthy and most importantly, tasty lunch time meal, go no further than Red Lotus. It’s also indoors, nicely decorated and clean and air-conditioned, which is perfect during summer.
Suzannah B.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Manhattan, NY
Red Lotus is a rare breed of Vietnamese restaurant. Most of Brisbane’s Viet joints are quick, cheap, charmingly grotty places that probably wouldn’t look out of place on the streets of Hanoi. Places like Trang and Quan Thanh, where the food is amazing but the décor is non-existent. These places are fantastic, but if you’re after a slightly more up-market feel then Red Lotus is just what you need. You can tell as soon as you walk into Red Lotus that a lot of thought has gone into the design and décor of the space. Modern shades of red and brown bring together sleek banquettes, woven hanging lights, and shiny floors. The service is usually efficient and always friendly, although there have been occasions where it’s taken a while to get my order in. As well as offering the usual phos, and rice and noodle dishes, Red Lotus offers some Vietnamese dishes that are not as common. The vegetarian tamarind soup is delicious, and unlike anything I’ve had elsewhere. Their vegetarian rice paper rolls are stuffed with baked rice and wood ear mushrooms which makes a nice change from the classic vermicelli. An omelette and a variety of salads(mango, papaya etc.) add further interest to the menu. If you have a hankering for Viet but feel like something a little more contemporary, then Red Lotus is a must-try. And if some soup and noodles doesn’t fill you up, they offer serendipity ice-cream and banana fritters as an after dinner indulgence ;)
Ellie W.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Australia
I had a hankering for a fresh, healthy dinner which I wouldn’t have to cook for myself. Hearing from friends that the Red Lotus in Fortitude Valley serves up one damn tasty, and most importantly, healthy Vietnamese food, I decided to follow their advice. And I definitely was not disappointed. The first thing that blew my mind was the décor of the restaurant — not something I’d expect in a Chinatown restaurant. The layout is sleek and modern, and the tables are spaciously separated from one another, adding a touch of intimacy to the whole experience. Beyond the appearance of the restaurant, the staff are exceptional. At the time, I was not accustomed to Vietnamese food, so the staff were clearly excited to explain the flavours each of the dishes I was contemplating exuded. Settling on the vermicelli noodles with«a bit of everything», I awaited this so-called ‘taste-sensation’. In the meantime, I got stuck into the young coconut juice — came as it was(in a coconut) complete with straw and spoon(to carve out the flesh, so I was advised). When my noodles arrived, I was dumb-struck at the sheer amount of food I’d ordered. But it’s easy to devour, as the majority of it is comprised of crisp, fresh salad with a smattering of spring rolls, pork patties, sugar cane prawns and lemongrass pork. Absolutely delicious, and rewardingly healthy. Our waiter waved us goodbye, and we were surprised to find that our bill received a 15% discount(turns out every Tuesday between 5pm and 10pm this offer is available). In total, it was cheap as chips(but far healthier!).